Apparatus and techniques to treat substrates using directional plasma and reactive gas

ABSTRACT

An apparatus to treat a substrate. The apparatus may include a reactive gas source having a reactive gas outlet disposed in a process chamber, the reactive gas outlet to direct a first reactive gas to the substrate; a plasma chamber coupled to the process chamber and including an extraction plate having an extraction aperture extending along a first direction, disposed within the process chamber and movable along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction between a first position facing the reactive gas source and a second position facing the extraction aperture; and a gas flow restrictor disposed between the reactive gas outlet and the extraction aperture, the gas flow restrictor defining a differential pumping channel between at least the plasma chamber and substrate stage.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/970,738, filed Dec. 16, 2015, entitled“Apparatus And Techniques To Treat Substrates Using Directional PlasmaAnd Reactive Gas,” and further claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/202,261, filed Aug. 7, 2015, entitled“Apparatus And Techniques To Treat Substrates Using Directional PlasmaAnd Reactive Gas” and incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD

The present embodiments relate to device processing techniques, and moreparticularly, to apparatus for treating a substrate, including fortreating the surface of a substrate.

BACKGROUND

As integrated devices continue to scale to smaller dimensions, theability to pattern features becomes increasingly difficult. Thesedifficulties include, in one aspect, the ability to etch features topreserve or transfer a pattern into a substrate. In many deviceapplications, a patterned feature may have a smallest dimension lessthan 50 nm and in some cases the smallest dimension may be less than 10nm. Moreover, the thickness of layers to be etched for building andpatterning device structures may be less than 10 nm in some examples.

One technique developed to controllably etch thin layers is atomic layeretching (ALE) where etching takes place on a layer-by-layer basis. In afirst operation, in an ALE apparatus a first reactant, such as areactive gas, may be introduced to a substrate where the first reactantforms a self-limiting monolayer on a surface of the substrate. Theself-limiting monolayer may include the first reactant and the upperlayer of material from the substrate. Subsequently, the first reactantmay be purged from the ALE system and in a further operation an etchantmay be provided to remove the self-limiting monolayer. In this manner,one monolayer of a substrate may be etched at a time, providing accuratecontrol of the amount of material to be removed.

One problem with the ALE process is the relatively slow rate ofprocessing a substrate, since several operations are involved to etchone monolayer, including the time for purging a reactant material.Additionally, the removal of a self-limiting monolayer in known ALEprocesses may be suitable for etching planar structures, while providingless capability for etching non-planar structures, such as threedimensional (3D) structures where geometric selectivity is desired.

With respect to these and other considerations the present improvementsmay be useful.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form further described below in the Detailed Description.This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essentialfeatures of the claimed subject matter, nor is the summary intended asan aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In one embodiment, an apparatus to treat a substrate may include areactive gas source having a reactive gas outlet disposed in a processchamber, the reactive gas outlet to direct a first reactive gas to thesubstrate; a plasma chamber coupled to the process chamber and includingan extraction plate having an extraction aperture extending along afirst direction; a substrate stage configured to hold the substrate,disposed within the process chamber and movable along a second directionperpendicular to the first direction between a first position facing thereactive gas source and a second position facing the extractionaperture; and a gas flow restrictor disposed between the reactive gasoutlet and the extraction aperture, the gas flow restrictor defining adifferential pumping channel between at least the plasma chamber andsubstrate stage.

In another embodiment, a system to treat a substrate may include aprocess chamber housing the substrate; a plasma chamber including anextraction plate having an extraction aperture extending along a firstdirection; a reactive gas source having a reactive gas outlet coupled tothe plasma chamber, the reactive gas outlet to direct a first reactivegas to the plasma chamber; a substrate stage configured to hold thesubstrate, disposed within the process chamber and movable along asecond direction perpendicular to the first direction; a bias powersupply connected to at least one of the substrate stage and the plasmachamber, wherein a bias is generated by the substrate bias supplybetween the plasma chamber and substrate stage; and controller coupledthe reactive gas outlet and to the bias power supply, the controllerincluding a synchronizer to send a closing signal to close the reactivegas outlet and to send a negative bias signal to bias the substratestage negatively with respect to the plasma chamber when the reactivegas outlet is closed.

In another embodiment, a method of etching a substrate may includedirecting a reactive gas to the substrate when the substrate is disposedin a process chamber, wherein a first product layer comprising thereactive gas and material from the substrate is formed on an outersurface of the substrate; directing a ribbon beam from a plasma chamberthrough an extraction aperture to an exposed portion of the substrate,the ribbon beam having a long axis along a first direction; and scanningthe substrate along a second direction perpendicular to the firstdirection during the directing the reactive gas and the directing theribbon beam, wherein the first product layer is etched from thesubstrate in the exposed portion, and is not etched from the substratein an unexposed portion that is not exposed to the ribbon beam.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A depicts a system according to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 1B depicts a plan view of an apparatus of the system of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 1C depicts a first instance of operation of a further systemaccording to embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 1D depicts a second instance of operation of the system of FIG. 1C;

FIG. 2A through FIG. 2F depict an example of substrate etching accordingto embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 presents one embodiment of another system according toembodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary process flow.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings, where some embodiments areshown. The subject matter of the present disclosure may be embodied inmany different forms and are not to be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. These embodiments are provided so thisdisclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey thescope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. In thedrawings, like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

This present embodiments provide novel apparatus and novel techniques totreat substrates, such as to etch a substrate, including a surfacefeature on a substrate. As used herein the term “substrate” may refer toan entity such as a semiconductor wafer, insulating wafer, ceramic, aswell as any layers or structures disposed thereon. As such, a surfacefeature, layer, series of layers, or other entity may be deemed to bedisposed on a substrate, where the substrate may represent a combinationof structures, such as a silicon wafer, oxide layer, metal layer, and soforth.

In various embodiments, apparatus are disclosed that provide ion beam(or “plasma beam”) treatment of a substrate as well as reactive gastreatment of the substrate. The ion beam and reactive gas may beprovided in a configuration and manner that delivers etching generallyaccording to an atomic layer etching (ALE) process.

FIG. 1A depicts an apparatus, shown as a system 100, according toembodiments of the disclosure. The system 100 may be employed to performetching of a substrate in various embodiments. The system 100 mayinclude various components that operate together as an apparatusproviding novel and improved etching of a substrate 106. As illustrated,the system 100 may include a process chamber 102 and a substrate stage104 disposed within the process chamber 102. The substrate stage 104 maybe movable at least along a direction parallel to the Y-axis in theCartesian coordinate system shown and a 360-degree rotational motionalong the Z-axis.

The system 100 further includes at least one reactive gas source, shownas the reactive gas source 108. The reactive gas source 108 may have areactive gas outlet 109 disposed within the process chamber 102. Thereactive gas source 108 may be employed to deliver reactive gas 132 tothe substrate 106 when the substrate 106 is adjacent the reactive gassource 108. In various embodiments, the reactive gas 132 may be capableof reacting with material of the substrate 106, wherein a first productlayer comprising the reactive gas 132 and material from the substrate106 is formed on an outer surface of the substrate. For example, in oneparticular non-limiting embodiment, the reactive gas 132 may comprisechlorine or a chlorine-containing material, while the substrate 106 issilicon. The reactive gas 132 may be delivered as a neutral species, maybe delivered as a radical, may be delivered as an ion or may bedelivered as a combination of neutrals, radicals and ions in someembodiments. A product layer may form as layer composed of a monolayerof chlorine species bonded to an underlayer of silicon species. Theembodiments are not limited in this context.

The system 100 further includes a plasma chamber 110. The plasma chamber110 may include an extraction plate 116. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, theextraction plate 116 partially separates the plasma chamber 110 from theprocess chamber 102. The extraction plate 116 also includes an aperture124 providing gaseous communication between the plasma chamber 110 andthe process chamber 102, where the aperture 124 acts as an extractionaperture. In this manner, the plasma chamber 110 may be coupled to theprocess chamber 102. The aperture 124 may be an elongated aperture thatextends along a first direction, such as parallel to the X-axis, asshown in FIG. 1B. For example, the aperture 124 may have a width Wranging between 100 mm and 500 mm in some embodiments and a length Lranging between 3 mm and 30 mm in some embodiments. The embodiments arenot limited in this context. This elongated configuration of aperture124 allows the extraction of an ion beam (“plasma beam”) as a ribbonbeam, meaning an ion beam having a cross-section where the beam width isgreater than a beam length.

As further shown in FIG. 1A, the system 100 may include an inert gassource 112 coupled to the plasma chamber 110 to provide inert gas suchas Ar, He, Ne, Kr, and so forth. The system 100 may further includeadditional components such as a power generator 114, where thecomponents together form a plasma source to generate a plasma 122.

The plasma 122 may be generated by coupling electric power from a powergenerator 114 to the rarefied gas provided by inert gas source 112 inthe plasma chamber 110 through an adequate plasma exciter (not shown).As used herein, the generic term “plasma source” may include a powergenerator, plasma exciter, plasma chamber, and the plasma itself. Theplasma source may be an inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) source,toroidal coupled plasma source (TCP), capacitively coupled plasma (CCP)source, helicon source, electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) source,indirectly heated cathode (IHC) source, glow discharge source, electronbeam generated ion source, or other plasma sources known to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, depending on the nature of the plasmasource, the power generator 114 may be an if generator, a dc powersupply, or a microwave generator, while plasma exciter may include ifantenna, ferrite coupler, plates, heated/cold cathodes, helicon antenna,or microwave launchers. The system 100 further may include a bias powersupply 154 connected to the plasma chamber 110 or to a substrate stage104, or to the plasma chamber 110 and substrate stage 104. Although notexplicitly shown, the plasma chamber 110 may be electrically isolatedfrom the process chamber 102. Extraction of a plasma beam 130 comprisingpositive ions through the aperture 124 may accomplished by eitherelevating the plasma chamber 110 at positive potential and grounding thesubstrate stage 104 directly or via grounding the process chamber 102;or by grounding the plasma chamber 110 and applying negative potentialon the substrate stage 104. The bias power supply 154 may operate ineither a dc mode or pulsed mode having a variable frequency and dutycycle, or an AC mode. The extraction plate 116 may be arranged generallyaccording to known design to extract ions in the plasma beam 130 in amanner that allows control of the ion angular distribution, i.e., theangle of incidence of the plasma beam 130 with respect to a substrate106 and the angular spread as detailed below.

In some embodiments, just one plasma beam 130 may be extracted throughthe aperture 124. In other embodiments, a pair of plasma beams may beextracted through the aperture 124. For example, as illustrated in FIG.1A and FIG. 1B, a beam blocker 118 may be disposed within the plasmachamber 110 and adjacent the aperture 124, where the beam blocker 118defines a first extraction aperture 160 and second extraction aperture162. As shown in FIG. 1A, two plasma beams 130 may be extracted from theplasma chamber 110 and directed to the substrate 106.

As further shown in FIG. 1A, the system 100 may include a pumping port135 coupled to the plasma chamber 110 and a plasma chamber pump 134connected to the pumping port 135. The plasma chamber pump 134 may beemployed, for example, to reduce concentration of certain species withinthe plasma chamber 110, as discussed below. The system 100 may furtherinclude a process chamber pump 136 coupled to the process chamber 102via a pumping port 137 to evacuate the process chamber 102.

The system 100 may further include a gas flow restrictor disposedbetween the reactive gas outlet and the extraction aperture, shown asthe gas flow restrictor 120. As shown in FIG. 1A, for example, a gasflow restrictor 120 may be disposed on the outside of extraction plate116 facing the substrate stage 104. The gas flow restrictor may define adifferential pumping channel 140 between at least the plasma chamber 110and substrate stage 104.

In operation, the substrate stage 104 may scan the substrate parallel tothe Y-axis with respect to the extraction plate 116. In this manner,different portions of the substrate 106 may be exposed to the reactivegas 132 at different times. For example, the reactive gas outlet 109 maybe elongated as shown in FIG. 1B and may have a width along the X-axissimilar to the width W of the aperture 124, and a length along theY-axis of 3 mm, for example. In various embodiments, the reactive gasoutlet 109 may be composed of a multitude of small holes distributedover the X and Y dimensions to define an elongated shape as shown by thedashed lines, for uniform gas distribution along the X dimension.Moreover, the distance between the reactive gas source 108 and substrate106 along the Z-axis may be 5 mm or less in some examples. Theembodiments are not limited in this context. In this manner, thereactive gas 132 may be provided as a narrow elongated stream thatcovers the substrate 106 in its entirety along the X-axis, while justcovering the substrate 106 over several millimeters in the directionparallel to the Y-axis. Accordingly, the entirety of the substrate 106may be exposed to the reactive gas 132 in a sequential fashion byscanning the substrate along the Y-axis. Likewise, different portions ofthe substrate 106 may be exposed to the plasma beam(s) 130 at differenttimes.

Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, a given region, such as aregion A of the substrate 106, may be exposed to the reactive gas 132and plasma beam 130 in a sequential fashion. In this manner, in anexample of scanning the substrate 106 from bottom to top, a productlayer made from the species of the reactive gas 132 and substrate 106may initially be formed at the region A. The product layer may be an ALElayer as discussed above where the product layer is a monolayer formedby a self-limiting reaction. The product layer formed in region A may besubsequently etched by the plasma beam 130, when the region A is scannedupwardly under the plasma beam 130. In this manner, the substrate 106may be etched in a monolayer-by-monolayer fashion by sequentiallyscanning the substrate under the reactive gas 132 and plasma beam 130.

In accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, the gas flowrestrictor 120 may define a low conductance channel, shown asdifferential pumping channel 140, between at least the extraction plate116 and substrate stage 104. As discussed below, the differentialpumping channel 140 may establish a large pressure difference betweenone end of the differential pumping channel 140 and the other end. Thereactive gas source 108 is separated from the plasma chamber 110 by alarge conductance aperture in direct communication to a pumping source.The pumping source can be the process chamber pump 136 or any otherpumping source made to communicate with aperture 142. If the conductanceof aperture 142 is represented by C142 and the conductance ofdifferential pumping channel 140 by C140, the flow of the reactive gasexiting the reactive gas source 108 and flowing through aperture 142 isproportional to C142/(C142+C140), while the amount of gas exiting thereactive gas source 108 and flowing through differential pumping channel140 is proportional to C140/(C142+C140). In accordance with variousembodiments, using appropriate design of aperture 142 and differentialpumping channel 140 the partial pressure of the reactive gas in thesetwo spatial regions may differ by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude. Using thisdifferential pumping method, the system 100 may, for example, maintain apartial pressure of the reactive gas 132 adjacent the reactive gasoutlet 109 of 1E-3 Torr, while having a partial pressure of 1E-6 Torr atthe region 144 adjacent the aperture 124, leading to the plasma chamber110.

A result of this pressure differential is that species of reactive gas132 may be prevented from backstreaming into the region 144 or intoplasma chamber 110, and may be preferentially pumped through the pumpingport 137. This may facilitate the ability to control the composition ofplasma beam 130, such as reducing or eliminating reactive gas speciesfrom the plasma beam 130. In this manner, a more controllable etchprocess may be realized by maintaining the exposure of substrate 106 toreactive gas 132 separate from the exposure to the plasma beam 130.Additionally or alternatively, the plasma chamber 110 may be evacuatedby the plasma chamber pump 134, further reducing the concentration ofspecies from reactive gas 132 in plasma chamber 110.

In accordance with various embodiments, the substrate stage 104 may bescanned sequentially under the reactive gas source 108 and plasmachamber 110 while the reactive gas source 108 and plasma chamber 110 aremaintained in an ON state. In this manner, the system 100 may provide ahigh throughput ALE process. In particular, a purge cycle may be avoidedwhere the reactive gas 132 would otherwise be purged between exposure toreactive gas and exposure to an etching process (e.g., plasma beam 130)as in known ALE processes. Moreover, in some embodiments, the substratestage 104 may scan a substrate 106 back and forth (up and down in FIG.1A) in a continuous fashion for a predetermined number of scan cycles inorder to etch a predetermined amount of material from substrate 106.Since the thickness of a given product layer may be readily calculated,the total thickness to be etched may readily be controlled according tothe number of scan cycles to be performed.

Turning now to FIG. 1C, there is shown another system 150 according tofurther embodiments of the disclosure. The system 150 may sharecomponents with system 100 labeled similarly. A difference betweensystem 150 and system 100 lies in the configuration for supplyingreactive gas to the substrate 106. In system 150, a reactive gas source156 having a reactive gas outlet 158 may be coupled to the plasmachamber 110, so the reactive gas outlet 158 may direct a first reactivegas to the plasma chamber 110. The system 150 may further include acontroller 152 coupled to the reactive gas outlet 158 and bias powersupply 154. The controller 152 may include a synchronizer 170 to send aclosing signal to close the reactive gas outlet 158 and to send anegative bias signal to bias the substrate stage 104 negatively withrespect to the plasma chamber 110 when the reactive gas outlet isclosed. For example, the substrate stage 104 may be biased in the rangebetween −10V to −10000V with respect to the plasma chamber 110. In thismanner, the plasma beam(s) 130 may be extracted from the plasma chamber110 at an ion energy adequate to etch a product layer formed on thesubstrate 106, while no reactive gas is directed to the substrate 106,as suggested in FIG. 1C. The synchronizer 170 may further send an opensignal to the reactive gas outlet 158 and a positive bias signal to biasthe substrate 106 positively with respect to the plasma chamber 110 whenthe reactive gas outlet 158 is open. In this manner, as shown in FIG.1D, reactive gas streams 172 may be provided to the substrate 106 whileno plasma beams 130 are extracted from the plasma 122, even while theplasma 122 may be present in the plasma chamber 110.

In one operation scenario, during a first scan of the substrate 106, forexample, from bottom to top, the substrate 106 may be exposed to thereactive gas streams 172, as shown in FIG. 1D. This exposure may form aself-limiting product layer as discussed above. In a second scan fromtop to bottom, the product layer may be etched by closing the reactivegas outlet 158 while extracting the plasma beam(s) 130, as shown in FIG.1C. In this manner, a given etch cycle effective to etch a monolayer ofmaterial from the substrate 106, may be completed by performing a scanunder the scenario of FIG. 1D followed by a scan under the scenario ofFIG. 1C.

As further shown in FIGS. 1A, 1C, and 1D, the system 100 and system 150may further include a control system 174. The control system 174 may becoupled to various components of system 100 or system 150 including biaspower supply 154, power generator 114, and the gas sources describedabove. The control system 174 may be arranged to vary at least onesystem parameter of system 100 or system 150. Examples of a systemparameter include level of RF power applied to the plasma chamber 110,RF waveform, extraction voltage of the ion beam applied by the biaspower supply 154, the duty cycle and frequency of the pulsed biasvoltage, or z spacing between substrate 106 and extraction plate 116,meaning the spacing along the Z-axis between substrate 106 andextraction plate 116. The configuration of the extraction plate 116 isanother example of a system parameter and may include the shape or sizeof apertures in the extraction plate, and so forth. At least one ofthese system parameters may be varied from a first value to a secondvalue, wherein the plasma beam 130 has a first shape at the first valueand a second shape at the second value. In this manner, parameters ofthe plasma beam 130, such as angle of incidence on the substrate,angular spread (ranges of angles of incidence), and so forth, may becontrolled. This allows the plasma beam 130 to be directed to asubstrate according to an application. For example, when the substrate106 includes patterned features (not shown in FIG. 1A), verticalsurfaces of a patterned feature may be better treated by directing theplasma beam 130 at a first angle of incidence, while horizontal surfacesmay be better treated by directing the plasma beam 130 at a second angleof incidence.

Turning now to FIG. 2A to FIG. 2F, there is shown one scenario accordingto embodiments of the disclosure, for performing directional ALE, orselective ALE, in order to etch a substrate. In various embodiments, thedirectional ALE may be performed using a system such as the system 100or system 150. At FIG. 2A, there is shown a first instance wherereactive gas 202 is directed to a substrate 200. For the purposes ofillustration, the substrate 200 may be silicon. The substrate 200 mayinclude an array of substrate features, shown as the substrate features204, extending from a substrate plane 212 of the substrate 200. Forexample, the substrate features 204 may be line structures, fins, ormesas, in some embodiments. The substrate 200 in the illustration ofFIG. 2A, may be a unitary structure where the planar portion andsubstrate features 204 are silicon. The reactive gas 202 may be capableof reacting with silicon to form a product layer 206, as shown in FIG.2B. The product layer 206 may in some cases be a monolayer of material,and in some embodiments may be formed from material within the substrate200 as well as species from reactive gas 202. The original surface 208of the substrate 200 is shown in FIG. 2B. As illustrated, the productlayer 206 may extend into the substrate 200.

Turning now to FIG. 2C, there is shown a further instance where ions 210are directed to the substrate 200 after formation of the product layer206. In some embodiments, the ions 210 may be directed as a pair ofplasma beams forming a non-zero angle of incidence +θ and an angle ofincidence −θ with respect to a perpendicular 214 to a substrate plane212, as shown. In particular embodiments the absolute value of the angleof incidence +θ and angle of incidence −θ are equal. The ions 210 may beinert gas ions in some embodiments, where the inert gas ions have an ionenergy adequate to etch the product layer 206. The ions 210 may beprovided at an ion energy and ion dose that does not etch the substrate200 in regions underneath the product layer 206. As illustrated in FIG.2C, the directionality of the ions 210 and the shape of the substratefeatures 204 may result in selective exposure of certain surfaces orportions of the substrate 200 to ions 210, while other portions are notexposed to the ions 210. As an example suggested by FIG. 2C, thesubstrate features 204 may be arranged in an array of features having aheight H and spaced apart from one another by a distance S. Accordingly,when the ions 210 are directed at a non-zero angle of incidence withrespect to the perpendicular 214, adjacent substrate features may shadowone another, preventing ions 210 from impinging upon certain regions ofthe substrate 200. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2C, ions 210 maybe shadowed from impinging upon horizontal surfaces lying in the X-Yplane, at least within a region of an array of the substrate features204. Because of this shadowing, unexposed portions of the substrate 200,such as the portions of product layer 206 on horizontal surfaces or intrench regions, shown as trenches 207, between adjacent substratefeatures, may remain unetched.

Turning now to FIG. 2D, there is shown an instance subsequent to theinstance shown in FIG. 2C. At FIG. 2D, the substrate 200 includessubstrate features 204 where the thickness of the substrate features 204along the Y-axis is narrower than in FIG. 2A, while the trenches 207remain unetched. As further shown in FIG. 2E and FIG. 2F, the operationsof FIGS. 2B and 2C, comprising an etch cycle of directional ALE, may berepeated. In FIG. 2E, there is shown a structure of the substrate 200after at least one additional etch cycle, where the substrate features204 are further reduced in thickness while the trenches 207 continue toremain unetched. In FIG. 2F, there is shown a structure of the substrate200 after at least one additional etch cycle is performed on thestructure of FIG. 2E, where the substrate features 204 are furtherreduced in thickness while the trenches 207 continue to remain unetched.

Referring again to FIG. 2C, in other embodiments, the angle of incidenceof ions 210 may be adjusted to a greater non-zero angle of incidencewith respect to the perpendicular 214, so just portions of sidewalls 209are exposed to the ions 210, such as top portions. In this manner,directional ALE may be applied to etch just top portions of substratefeatures.

In still further embodiments, ions may be directed along theperpendicular 214 so that horizontal surfaces of the substrate 200 areetched while sidewalls 209 remain unetched. This perpendiculardirectionality may provide a superior “vertical” atomic layer etchingprocess as compared to known ALE techniques. In the known ALEtechniques, processing conditions entail gas phase scattering resultingin etching ions impinging on a substrate over a range of angles in anuncontrolled fashion, so highly vertical etching of substrate featuresmay not be readily accomplished.

FIG. 3 presents one embodiment of a system 300 to enable directional ALE(D-ALE). The substrate 1 may be provided in the process chamber 102. Thesubstrate 1 may be clamped to the substrate stage 2, where the substratestage 2 is movable so the substrate 1 travels upwards to interceptreactive gas. The reactive gas may be provided by tunable reactive gassource 3 and tunable reactive gas source 4, for example. UV radiationsource(s) 21 may direct UV radiation 22, where the UV radiation isintercepted by the substrate 1 as the substrate 1 is further scannedupward. The substrate 1 may further be exposed to dual angle ion beams,shown as ion beams 7, and extracted from a plasma 6 formed in the plasmachamber 24. The substrate 1 may be scanned further to intercept a secondstream of reactive gas output by a second tunable reactive gas source,also shown as tunable reactive gas source 4. The system 300 may providethe ion beams 7 at controllable ion energy and angular distribution,meaning the range of angles of incidence as well as the relative amountof ions at a given angle of incidence. The ion beams 7 may be extractedby an extraction optics composed of an extraction plate 9 as generallydescribed above. The system 300 may also include a beam blocker 18 asdescribed above, as well as a deflection electrode 10.

The plasma 6 may be generated by admission of given gas mixture from agas manifold 5 into the plasma chamber 24, while coupling if power froman rf antenna 11 to the gas mixture through a dielectric rf window 12.The if power to ignite and sustain the discharge may be provided by anrf generator 13 through a matching network 14. Ion energy of ions in theion beams 7 may be controlled by a pulsed dc power supply 15, where thepulsed dc power supply may maintain the plasma chamber 24 at elevatedpositive electrostatic potential while the substrate stage 2 and thesubstrate 1 are maintained at ground potential. The system 300 mayfurther include a dc power supply, shown as the deflection voltagesupply 16, coupled to the deflection electrode 10. The ion angulardistribution of ions in the ion beams 7 may be controlled by varying thenegative bias voltage applied to the deflection electrode from thedeflection voltage supply 16. In particular, the deflection electrode 10may be disposed adjacent the beam blocker 118, wherein the beam blocker118 is disposed between the plasma chamber 24 and deflection electrode10. The voltage applied to deflection electrode 10 may generate anelectric field that deflects the ion beams 7 as the ion beams 7 areextracted from the plasma 6. In particular, this may serve to vary theangle of incidence of the ion beams 7 when the deflection voltage isvaried to deflection electrode 10. The deflection electrode 10 mayaccordingly provide the ability to conveniently vary portions ofsubstrate features etched by ALE by merely varying voltage. In variousembodiments, this varying of voltage may be performed in a dynamicfashion during processing of a substrate or group of substrates.

During exposure to low energy ions and reactants, excited molecules andradicals from plasma chamber 24, a product monolayer formed by exposureto the tunable reactive gas source 3 or tunable reactive gas source 4may be etched away. The ion and radicals flux may be controlled byadjusting either the power delivered to the if discharge and/or the gasflow rate. An irradiation dose received by the substrate 1 may beadjusted by adjusting the scanning speed along the direction parallel tothe Y-axis. For certain reactions, in addition to independent ionbombardment, UV photon irradiation may be helpful for removal of asurface product layer. The photon energy of a few eV provided by UVradiation facilitates breakage of surface bonds while not affecting thematerial beneath the monolayer of product layer disposed on the surfaceof the substrate 1. Accordingly, at least one of UV radiation source(s)21 may be employed to generate UV radiation 22. In some embodiments forprocessing substrates having dimensions up to 300 mm, the UV radiationsources 21 may extend in the direction parallel to the X-axis for 350 mmto illuminate uniformly an entirety of a substrate width. The photonflux may adjusted by adjusting the power delivered to the UV radiationsources 21, while the irradiation dose may be adjusted by adjusting thescanning speed along the Y-axis. In some embodiments, the substrate 1may be scanned along a scan direction from position A to position B toposition C to position D, where the substrate 1 may be exposed to asecond tunable reactive gas source, shown also as the tunable reactivegas source 4. The substrate 1 may scanned in a continuous fashion insome embodiments. A directional ALE etch cycle may be completed byscanning the substrate from position A to position B to position C toposition D one time. This etch cycle may be repeated as needed to etch atarget thickness of material from the substrate 1. In some variants, agas flow restrictor may be provided in the system 300 as described abovewith respect to FIG. 1A.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary process flow according to embodiments of thedisclosure. At block 402, the operation is performed of directing areactive gas to the substrate when the substrate is disposed in aprocess chamber, wherein a first product layer comprising the reactivegas and material from the substrate is formed on an outer surface of thesubstrate. At block 404, the operation is performed of directing aribbon beam from a plasma chamber through an extraction aperture to anexposed portion of the substrate, the ribbon beam having a long axisalong a first direction. At block 406, the operation is performed ofscanning the substrate along a second direction perpendicular to thefirst direction during the directing the reactive gas and the directingthe ribbon beam, wherein the first product layer is etched from thesubstrate in the exposed portion, and is not etched from the substratein an unexposed portion that is not exposed to the ribbon beam.

The present embodiments provide various advantages over conventionalprocessing to define features in a substrate. One advantage lies in theability to perform atomic layer etching without having to performpurging after exposure to reactive gas, providing a higher throughputprocess. Another advantage is the ability to selectively etch chosensurfaces or regions of a substrate using an ALE process by control of anangle of incidence of ion beams directed to a substrate.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in scope by the specificembodiments described herein. Indeed, other various embodiments of andmodifications to the present disclosure, in addition to those describedherein, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from theforegoing description and accompanying drawings. Thus, such otherembodiments and modifications are in the tended to fall within the scopeof the present disclosure. Furthermore, the present disclosure has beendescribed herein in the context of a particular implementation in aparticular environment for a particular purpose, while those of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize the usefulness is not limited theretoand the present disclosure may be beneficially implemented in any numberof environments for any number of purposes. Thus, the claims set forthbelow are to be construed in view of the full breadth and spirit of thepresent disclosure as described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system to treat a substrate, comprising: aprocess chamber housing the substrate; a plasma chamber, adjacent theprocess chamber and including an extraction plate having an extractionaperture extending along a first direction; a reactive gas source havinga reactive gas outlet coupled to the plasma chamber; an inert gas sourcehaving an inert gas outlet coupled to the plasma chamber; a bias powersupply connected to at least one of the substrate stage and the plasmachamber, wherein a bias is generated by the bias power supply betweenthe plasma chamber and substrate stage; and a controller coupled thereactive gas outlet and to the bias power supply, the controllerincluding a synchronizer to send a closing signal to close the reactivegas outlet and to send a negative bias signal to bias the substratestage negatively with respect to the plasma chamber when the reactivegas outlet is closed.
 2. The system of claim 1, the synchronizer to sendan open signal to the reactive gas outlet and a positive bias signal tobias the substrate positively with respect to the plasma chamber whenthe reactive gas outlet is open.
 3. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising a beam blocker disposed within the plasma chamber andadjacent the extraction aperture, the beam blocker defining a firstextraction aperture and second extraction aperture.
 4. The system ofclaim 3, further comprising: a deflection electrode disposed adjacentthe beam blocker, wherein the beam blocker is disposed between theplasma chamber and deflection electrode; and a deflection voltage supplyconnected to the deflection electrode.
 5. The system of claim 1, theextraction aperture comprising a width, along a first direction, of 100mm to 400 mm, and a length, along the second direction, of 2 mm to 30mm.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein an ion beam extracted through theextraction aperture forms a non-zero angle of incidence with respect toa perpendicular to a substrate plane.
 7. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a substrate stage configured to hold the substrate, disposedwithin the process chamber and movable along a second directionperpendicular to the first direction.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinthe ion beam comprises a long axis along a first direction perpendicularto the second direction.
 9. A method of etching a substrate, comprising;forming a plasma in a plasma chamber using an inert gas from an inertgas source; directing a reactive gas to the substrate through the plasmachamber when the substrate is disposed in a process chamber, adjacentthe plasma chamber, wherein a first product layer comprising thereactive gas and material from the substrate is formed on an outersurface of the substrate, wherein the directing the reactive gas to thesubstrate comprises: sending an OPEN signal to a reactive gas outletcoupled to a reactive gas source, and a positive bias signal to bias thesubstrate positively with respect to the plasma chamber when thereactive gas outlet is open; and extracting an ion beam from the plasmachamber through an extraction aperture, the extracting the ion beamcomprising: sending a negative bias signal to bias the substrate stagenegatively with respect to the plasma chamber when the reactive gasoutlet is closed, wherein the first product layer is etched from thesubstrate in an exposed portion of the substrate that is impacted by theion beam, and is not etched from the substrate in an unexposed portionof the substrate, the unexposed portion not being exposed to the ionbeam.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plasma is present in theplasma chamber during the directing the reactive gas.
 11. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the reactive gas flows into the plasma chamber throughthe reactive gas outlet, and through the extraction aperture to thesubstrate.
 12. The method of claim 9, comprising scanning a substratestage holding the substrate along a scan direction with respect to theextraction aperture.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the ion beamforms a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to asubstrate plane.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the substratecomprises an array of substrate features, wherein a given substratefeature includes a sidewall and wherein the substrate includes a trenchregion between adjacent substrate features of the array of substratefeatures, wherein the first product layer is removed from the sidewalland is not removed from the trench region.
 15. The method of claim 9,wherein the ion beam comprises a long axis along a first directionperpendicular to the scan direction.
 16. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: providing a deflection electrode adjacent the extractionaperture; and applying a deflection voltage to the deflection electrode,wherein an angle of incidence with respect to a perpendicular to asubstrate plane is varied from a first angle of incidence to a secondangle of incidence.
 17. The method of claim 9, wherein the directing thereactive gas, scanning the substrate stage, and directing the ion beamcomprise a first etch cycle, the method further comprising performing atleast one additional etch cycle, wherein in a given etch cycle a giventhickness of the first product layer is removed from the substrate. 18.A method of etching a substrate, comprising; directing a reactive gas tothe substrate when the substrate is disposed in a process chamber,wherein a first product layer comprising the reactive gas and materialfrom the substrate is formed on an outer surface of the substrate;extracting an ion beam from a plasma chamber through an extractionaperture, wherein the ion beam impacts an exposed portion of thesubstrate; wherein the first product layer is etched from the substratein the exposed portion, and is not etched from the substrate in anunexposed portion of the substrate, the unexposed portion not beingexposed to the ion beam, wherein the substrate comprises an array ofsubstrate features, the substrate features spaced apart from one anotherby a distance S, the distance S defined by a trench disposed betweenadjacent substrate features, and wherein the distance S increases afterthe directing the reactive gas and the extracting the ion beam, whilethe trench remains unetched.